July 2013
Philadelphia Suburbs...
"The Montgomery County law library employee accused of putting her daughter’s textbooks on the county tab is no longer on the county payroll.
Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The county salary board, which includes the three commissioners and controller, last week signed off on the county board of judges’ decision to terminate Barbara Melnyk, effective July 9.
Melnyk, 55, of the 2900 block of Penn Square Road, East Norriton, was earning a yearly salary of $31,395 as the library’s bookkeeper prior to her arrest on June 14. At that time, Melnyk was suspended without pay while the court reviewed the matter.
Find out what's happening in Lislewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Melnyk, who was first hired by the county Public Defender’s Office in 2008 and then transferred to the law library one year later, is charged with multiple thefts and conspiracy. Waiving her preliminary hearing, Melnyk is free on $10,000 unsecured bail. Her next court hearing, a formal arraignment, is scheduled for July 31 in county court.
Authorities allege that for a three-year period from 2010 through 2012, Melnyk purchased 35 college textbooks having a combined value of $2,598 for her daughter and charged them to the law library account.
The county Controller’s Office first discovered the alleged thefts following an audit it performed after the library was put under the county court’s jurisdiction.
Controller Stewart J. Greenleaf Jr., who said his office found thefts totaling in excess of $30,000, turned the matter over to District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman for investigation.
That investigation is ongoing, said Ferman.
The criminal complaint filed to support the charges against Melnyk states that she conspired with the library’s former director in making those purchases. That former director abruptly retired at the end of last year.
Also, authorities say, another employee alleged that the former director encouraged her to take home a printer purchased with library funds as compensation during a county salary freeze."
